Kamala Devi Harris - Kamala Harris USA News

In: Americas & Caribbean Biography, Famous People

Kamala Harris (Kamala Devi Harris) was born on 20 October 1964. Growing up in Oakland, Kamala had a stroller-eye view of the Civil Rights movement. Through the example of courageous leaders like Thurgood Marshall, Constance Baker Motley, and Charles Hamilton Houston, Kamala learned the kind of character it requires to stand up to the powerful, and resolved to spend her life advocating for those who could not defend themselves.

In 2017, Kamala D. Harris was sworn in as a United States Senator for California, the second African-American woman and first South Asian-American senator in history. She serves on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, the Select Committee on Intelligence, the Committee on the Judiciary, and the Committee on the Budget. Kamala has spent her life fighting injustice. It’s a passion that was first inspired by her mother, Shyamala, an Indian-American immigrant, activist, and breast cancer researcher.Continue reading

In: Americas & Caribbean Biography, Famous People

Born 7 August 1944 in New York City in 1944, Robert Mueller attended Princeton University and served with distinction in Vietnam. He became an assistant U.S. attorney for the Northern District of California in 1976, and over the next two-plus decades he also took on prominent roles with the District of Massachusetts and the Department of Justice.

Named FBI director in 2001, Mueller was immediately confronted by the 9/11 attacks, and he subsequently overhauled the bureau to meet the demands posed by 21st century terrorist activity. He left the post in 2013, but returned to the spotlight four years later as special counsel in charge of investigating Russian interference into the 2016 presidential election and possible ties to associates of President Donald Trump.Continue reading

Marzieh Hashemi Biography and Profile, Melanie Franklin, African-American, Iranian, American, USA

In: Americas & Caribbean Biography, Famous People, MidEast Biography

Marzieh Hashemi (Melanie Franklin), a natural-born citizen of the United States and a naturalized citizen of the Islamic Republic of Iran was born on 21 December 1959 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. Marzieh Hashemi, an American-Iranian journalist and television presenter, is a prominent anchor for Iranian state-funded Press TV and serves as the editor-in-chief of Mahjubah magazine.

Marzieh Hashemi born into a Christian African-American family, later converted to Islam and moved to Iran after being inspired by the Iranian revolution. She lives in Tehran and comes back to the US about once a year to see her family, usually scheduling documentary work in the US, her son said.Continue reading

Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías - Venezuela Hugo Chavez News

In: Americas & Caribbean Biography, Famous People

Born in Sabaneta, Venezuela, on July 28, 1954, Hugo Chávez (Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías) attended the Venezuelan military academy and served as an army officer before participating in an effort to overthrow the government in 1992, for which he was sentenced to two years in prison. Chávez became president of Venezuela in 1999. Early into his presidency, he created a new constitution for the country, which included changing its name to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

He later focused his efforts on gaining control of the state-run oil company, which stirred controversy and led to protests, strained relations with the United States and other nations, and Chávez briefly being removed from power. His actions included selling oil to Cuba and resisting efforts to stop narcotic trafficking in Colombia. In 2006, Chávez helped create the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, a socialist free-trade organization. He died on March 5, 2013, at age 58, following a long battle with cancer.Continue reading

Julian Castro - USA News Today

In: Americas & Caribbean Biography, Famous People

Julian Castro was born on September 16, 1974, along with his twin brother, in San Antonio, Texas, where his family has lived since the 1920s. He was always a brilliant student, attending both Stanford University and Harvard Law School. Upon his graduation from law school, Castro ran for a seat on the San Antonio City Council and won, making history as the youngest councilman in the city’s history.

He served for several years and then ran for the mayoral seat, which he lost. He ran again for the mayoral seat in 2009 and won, becoming the fifth Hispanic mayor in San Antonio’s history. Castro was relatively unknown before he delivered the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina in September 2012.Continue reading

Tulsi Gabbard - US Politics News Today

In: Americas & Caribbean Biography, Famous People

Tulsi Gabbard was born in Leloaloa, American Samoa on April 12, 1981, the fourth of five children. At the age of two, Tulsi and her family settled in Hawaii where as a teenager, she co-founded the Healthy Hawaii Coalition, a non-profit teaching children to take care of themselves and the environment.

“I grew up with the Aloha Spirit. We try to treat everyone with respect. Like family.” -Tulsi Gabbard, US Congresswoman.

An advocate for environmental policy, Tulsi ran for the Hawaii State Legislature in 2002 and became the youngest person ever elected. A year later, Tulsi joined the Hawaii National Guard to serve Hawaii’s citizens and our country. Continue reading

Bernie Sanders - USA Politics Headline Today

In: Americas & Caribbean Biography, Famous People

Born 8 September 1941 in Brooklyn, Bernie Sanders attended James Madison High School, Brooklyn College and the University of Chicago. After graduating in 1964, he moved to Vermont. In 1981, he was elected (by 10 votes) to the first of four terms as mayor of Burlington. Sanders lectured at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and at Hamilton College in upstate New York before his 1990 election as Vermont’s at-large member in Congress. The Almanac of American Politics calls Sanders a “practical and successful legislator.”

Throughout his career he has focused on the shrinking American middle class and the growing income and wealth gaps in the United States. As chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, Bernie Sanders in 2014 passed legislation reforming the VA health care system. Congressional Quarterly said he was able “to bridge Washington’s toxic partisan divide and cut one of the most significant deals in years.”Continue reading

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - USA Politics Stories Today

In: Americas & Caribbean Biography, Famous People

On June 26, 2018, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Bronx native, made history when she thoroughly defeated 10-term New York Democratic congressman Joe Crowley in New York’s 14th congressional district in the state’s Democratic primary, with close to 58 percent of the vote. It was her first time running for office, and as a Democratic Socialist of Puerto Rican descent, her stunning victory over the fourth most powerful Democrat in the House was a boon to the progressive change that many liberal voters have been demanding.

From an early age, Alexandria grew up with a deep understanding of income inequality. The state of Bronx public schools in the late 80s and early 90s sent her parents on a search for a solution. She ended up attending public school in Yorktown—40 minutes north of her birthplace. As a result, much of her early life was spent in transit between her tight-knit extended family in the Bronx and her daily student life. It was clear to her, even then, that the zip code a child was born in determined much of their destiny. The 40-minute drive represented a vastly different quality of available schooling, economic opportunity, and health outcomes.Continue reading

Mitt Romney , Willard Mitt Romney , George Romney, Mitt Romney - USA News in Politics

In: Americas & Caribbean Biography, Famous People

Born in Michigan on March 12, 1947, Willard Mitt Romney founded the investment firm Bain Capital and later ran for the Massachusetts Senate in 1994, losing to incumbent Ted Kennedy. Romney took over the Salt Lake Organizing Committee and helmed a successful 2002 Olympic Games. He became governor of Massachusetts in 2003 and made a run for the Republican nomination in the 2008 election, losing to candidate John McCain. Romney made a second run for the U.S. presidency in 2012, with U.S. Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin as his running mate, but was ultimately defeated by President Barack Obama in a tight race.

Willard Mitt Romney attended the prestigious Cranbrook School before receiving his undergraduate degree from Brigham Young University in 1971. He attended Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School, and received both a law degree and a Master of Business Administration degree in 1975.Continue reading

Elizabeth Warren - USA Politics News Today

In: Americas & Caribbean Biography, Famous People

Elizabeth Warren was born in Oklahoma City on 22 June 1949. Elizabeth Warren attended George Washington University, 1966-1968; graduated University of Houston, B.S., 1970; graduated Rutgers University, J.D., 1976; elementary school teacher; lawyer; law professor; bankruptcy analyst; chair, Congressional Oversight Panel for the Troubled Asset Relief Program 2008-2010; special assistant to President Barack Obama for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau 2010-2011; elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate in 2012 for the term ending January 3, 2019.

The people who recruited Elizabeth to her teaching jobs, including Ronald Reagan’s former Solicitor General, all confirm: they hired her because she was an award-winning legal scholar and professor and they were unaware of her family’s heritage.Continue reading